Starlink Satellites could ruin the night sky: astrophysicist

An astrophysicist is expressing worries about an ambitious satellite project.

Elon Musk’s Starlink Satellites were first launched in May of 2019. SpaceX plans to use them to improve 5G internet networks worldwide.

However, Dr. Ethan Siegel, an astrophysicist and columnist, thinks the project will cause more harm than good.

He’s concerned that the high volume of bright satellites will pollute the night sky and make observing distant objects impossible.

He said it’s impossible to remove the influence of the satellites from telescope data.

“There are things we want to see in the distant universe. The most distant objects of all, the things that push our understanding of the cosmos forward, these are objects that change with time,” he told 650 CKOM’s Brent Loucks.

“The same techniques that would subtract out these new satellites would also make these variable objects invisible to us.”

He believes this could make the field of astronomy almost impossible to pursue.

“The real danger is losing all of this ability to take data from the ground.”

By the end of 2020, 1,600 satellites are planned to launch into orbit. The final stages of the process would have around 40,000 satellites in the atmosphere. Siegel estimates this could happen by the mid 2020s.

This could have an impact on anyone looking up at the sky.

“It’s going to add over 100 artificial lights in the sky to every observer on Earth,” he explained.

Siegel thinks the solution is to pressure SpaceX into making changes, like minimizing the reflective light.

“If we don’t get our collective act together, we’re going to have a very different night sky than we’ve ever had before.”